Jewish Wedding

Judaism is a monotheistic religion and his adherents guide their spiritual life after Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) their holy book that looks pretty much like the Christian Bible, in sense that the teachings of Tanakh is also found, in various forms, in the Old Testament. In Jewish tradition, the story of the beginnings of Judaism is about the Covenant between God and Abraham. Conform with the Jewish Law, a Jew is a Jew anyone who is born of a Jewish mother, but in our days, a Jew is anyone who have Jewish parents that raise him in the Jewish tradition.

The traditional Jewish wedding is full of rituals that symbolize the purity of the holy marriage between a man and a woman, the good relationship between them and the respect and debt to the society. In the wedding planing, the bride and the groom will not focus only in the material aspects of the event, they got to be ensured that the religious, moral, and spiritual communion are made in the right way, because they will need this if they want to have a happy marriage.

Here are some basic instruction for a perfect traditional Jewish wedding.

The Jewish wedding is a ceremony that have two parts : the betrothal(erusin) and the act of marriage (nissuín). Like in other religion, a Jewish wedding can not be performed without a minimum of two witnesses.

In the past a woman was the most valuable property that am man have, but she was still a property. The bertrothal was the purchasing action of a woman from her father, who is also the one who sets the price of the girl and make the arangaments for the wedding. Now the betrothal is a symbolic tradition, because today women are independent and they are not treated as a proprietary. That would be illegal.

In Jewish traditions exist a special contract, a kind of prenuptial agreement named Ketubah, that is a obligatorily element in a Jewish wedding. In this contract are found the rights and responsibilities of a groom, in relation to the bride. In case of Ortodox Jews, they keep so much the tradition af the ketubah that in case of losing it they can not even have sex, even if it has been stolen. The content of the ketubah is got the requirements from the Torah of a Jew man debts towards his wife. Some of the debts are:giving her adequate resources for dress, food, and shelter, and providing her with regular sexual intercourse.



After the reading of the ketubah, the second part of the marriage begins. This part is named nissuin and this ceremony is the recitation of seven blessings. All the seven blessings begin with the phrase: Baruch Ata HaShem Elokainu Melech HaOlam, which means: Blessed are You, Adonoy, our God, King of the universe. In the first blessing they thank for the  grapes. In the second and third they thank for the all the things created by God and for the creation of the mankind. But in all the blessings they thank God for all the wonders that he had done for his people, for all the creations that He made. For the prays that they ascend to God, they hope that the future family will be bless .

In the time of the recitation of the seven blessings, a rabbi holds a cup of wine. After the blessings are recited the groom and the bride drink from the cup. In the end of the nissuin the  groom got to step on a glass and the guests shout, “Mazel Tov!” or “Siman Tov!”. Then the new husband and wife spends a couple of minutes alone before rejoin the wedding party with all the relatives and friends.

Another tradition is that of the unveiling of the bride. The bride wear a veil when she is escorted to the huppa, where the groom is.The bride is unveiling on the marriage ceremony when she sipo from a cup of wine.



The dinner following the ceremony is these prayer is repeated again. For second recitation of the blessing is used another cup of wine. After they are the pray ends the rabbi mix the two cup of wine into the third one and the bride and the groom drink it too. The blessing are recited every one day for the next seven day at the meal.

The tradition demands that the two mother -in- law got to break a plate together. This symbolize the relationship between the two and if it will break, it will not be restored just as you can not restore the broken plate. This tradition resist for a millennium and a half and the origin of it is still a mystery, but there are a various explanation of it.

After the party the new couple goes in a room where the two remain single for the first time. this moments are the symbol of the groom and the bride's right to live together.That tradition is named Yichud.

The week after the weddings is named Sheva Brachot. It is a full week of parties in the name of the new pairs. The party are given by the close friends of bridal couple . Besides this week it is one more party in name of the parents of the new bridal couple.



On the next Shabbat after the holy union of the two lovers, the Isaac's marriage is read to the groom, in most of the cases this biblical story is read o him in a synagogue, in time of the morning prayer service. But in Sri Lanka this story is read by the groom and in the Punjab it is read on the Shabbat before the wedding. The Isaac's marriage is make to teach the groom the responsibility and proper maintenance of a family.

The guests is a tradition too. In the Book of Judges at the marriage of Samson is suggest that the groom was accompanied in the ceremony by his friends. Also a psalm mention that the bride was accompanied by her friends. But the bride parents should stay home in time of the ceremony, sorrowing the loose of their daughter, and the bride must be accompanied by her brothers. In case of no brothers, the uncle must accompany her.

This is the basic instruction for a dream Jewish wedding. If you follow the tradition you can plan a perfect wedding for your spiritual life.Check out some Jewish wedding gowns, because they are important too in your Jewish wedding ceremony!

Have a nice wedding!